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Started Self Programming, now Audiologist want to drop us

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My wife is in the process of getting new hearing aids because her old ones died. She first tried Widex and did not like them because she could not turn off all the automatic stuff. Now she is in Starkies and likes them well enough. Her audiologist has struggled to get them to sound to my wife’s liking. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and bought a programmer and set up the software at home. I did a ton of research and was very carful to know what I was doing before I did anything. Once I did, I sat with her for two 45 min sessions and got them to sound great!

The only issue is that she needs the physical fit of the modified. She wants to do new impressions and get them re-shelled. We are still in the trial period, but not for long. We called the audiologist and told them that we wanted it to be re-shelled, and it came up about adjustments and my wife told her about us doing the adjustments at home. This freaked the audiologist out. The next day (today) she called us and told us that unless she could be sure that we would not program them anymore, she would not see us anymore. and wants us to drop off the hearing aids for a refund (minus $150 or so for restocking or some such). We don’t want to do that because we have a trip in a couple weeks. We are supposed to get impressions on Friday, and re-shelled in a couple weeks when we get back.

Here are my questions:
Can she drop us over that (she says she may lose her license?)
Can we go to a different Audiologist and get Starkie to still do the re-shell for free under warrantee?
Has anyone else had issues with audiologists freaking out over self programming?
Should we just tell her that “we wont mess with them”?

Thanks!

8 people in this conversation6 min readJump to latest

I had an audiologist some years back that was absolutely horrified that I would ever dare to mess with my own settings.

I jumped ship, and now have an audiologist that is quite supportive and even takes extra time to explain what she’s doing during fittings.

I keep her settings in “Program 1”, copy it into “P 2”, and then fiddle with that version. If think I’ve made an improvement, I copy that into “P 3” and then go back to fiddling with “P 2” again.

I can cycle through those versions during difficult listening situations, trying to determine the best one.

(BTW – In Genie 2, it’s important to “unlink” the programs, so changes to one program don’t propagate into the others.)

-Doug

@Self_Programmer said:

Has anyone else had issues with audiologists freaking out over self programming?

Your kidding right, but yes seriously most do not want amateurs messing with “their” settings and , yeah it’s not something that you just tell them your doing without getting to know them first, especially when in the trial period, the reason they knew straight away was the time stamp and of course the settings were completely different from what was stored in their last “session” with you, so two things you could do, dump them and move on to another and get your new molds made from any other audiologist clinic, or buy the HAs outright and insist that the clinic takes the impression and order the molds, remember they are your HAs and the Audiologist works for you, not the other way around, but the relationship could be too far gone now so the first option could be the best way forward.

I understand why you did it [I self-program mine], but it was a mistake on your part, since you don’t own the hardware yet.
Finding a more accommodating audiologist would serve you better long-term, because, as it was already mentioned, they can always see when you change something and can throw a fit.
They cannot deny you [they can try though, and make it problematic for you] the service after you pay for the though, as price of the HAs includes couple of years of after-care.

That’s interesting. We do plan to move to another audiologist, but do you think she can try to take the hearing aids away? We have already spoken to insurance about switching but nothing has been done yet. We are planning to have them re-shelled after our trip. I would hate to have to fight over control of the hearing aids.

Some audiologists are interested in helping patients hear while others just want to sell hearing aids and get the fees from future visits. Fortunately, my audi is in the first camp. She believes that self adjustment is the wave of the future. She believes that many people need to make adjustments quickly or in a more convenient setting. She had been very helpful in my efforts and has offered to help via telephone or email if I need it. So far I have not had to call upon her generosity but its nice to know that help is available if I need it.

@Self_Programmer It’s exactly that, they want to foster codependency. Otherwise it would render their services useless for the most part. It’s about money.
As for getting them back it’s probably a scare tactic, I would just lie and tell her that I won’t program them again, if you still want to stay with her (I wouldn’t).

@Self_Programmer said:

wants us to drop off the hearing aids for a refund (minus $150 or so for restocking or some such)

It might not be worth arguing about, but I wouldn’t be so quick to accept the $150 loss. Look carefully at whatever you signed when you got them. If it doesn’t address self-programming, and there’s no catch-all provision basically saying “I can drop you for any or no reason during the trial, and and you still owe me $150,” then I’d demand a full refund.

She’s not going to lose her license for not dropping patients who tweak their own hearing aids. That’s absurd. That lie alone would make me want to go elsewhere. Is there time to get another pair from someone else before the trip? The price of these aids probably included follow-up services, and you’ll have to pay separately for those services with another audi, so that returning them and buying the same aids from somewhere else might end up being cheaper.

Our plan right now is to cancel our appointment that is coming up this Friday when we get the appointment reminder. Then we will be out of the trial period shortly after. We are not going to give them back even if they demand it. We have already spoken to the insurance, and I don’t think there is anything she can do about it.

We will look for another Audi in a few months. We have a year to have remakes done by starky for free.

I had my hearing tested recently by an audiologist as part of privately funded health care in the UK, to inform the surgeon’s review of his treatment and I told her that as I was an electronics engineer, I wanted to photograph her read-out because I self-adjusted my own hearing aids.

She said “Good. I’m not surprised!”

My advice is, be friendly, smile a lot and mostly people go along with it.

Where can I get a programmer that you used? I’ve started to hearing aid center I wondered $500 a year for a maintenance fee. I found a place in Illinois that serviced them when I needed. I’ve had that damn one for $450 and not had a problem since I was seven years ago, but my hearing has changed and I I have worked in an audio field and understand the concepts of equalization. Thanks for the info.

@Joseph111 said:

Where can I get a programmer that you used?

The Noahlink wireless programming device no doubt your asking about, eBay or Amazon can usually help out there.

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